Meet the Nominees: Visionary 010 Award

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The Visionary 010 Award recognizes a person considered a visionary in Rotterdam, who has contributed to or paved the way for a better arts climate and cultural sector in the city for at least five years. The award was created with the support of Droom en Daad, and candidates are nominated by a group of approximately 15 art professionals, policymakers, and cultural producers active in the Rotterdam art field.

The prize carries €25,000, acknowledging the vital role of cultural leaders in shaping the city’s creative life and supporting a vibrant, sustainable cultural ecosystem.

Other Award Categories

In addition to the Visionary 010 Award, The MELLYs include two other categories, each also carrying a prize of €25,000:

Maker Behind the Maker Award

Honoring the craftspeople, fabricators, and producers whose skills make artistic work possible.

Behind the Lens Award (formerly the Berry Koedam Award)

Recognizing photographers and documenters who expand how we see and remember art.

Meet the Nominees: Visionary 010 Award

The 2025 nominees for the Visionary 010 Award embody the depth and diversity of Rotterdam’s cultural landscape. From interdisciplinary artist Kamiel Verschuren, whose decades-long practice bridges community and urban development, to choreographer Virgil Moreno, who brings the city’s raw energy to the stage while nurturing new generations of dancers, their work shows how culture thrives through dedication and vision.

Also among the nominees are socially engaged artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, known for large-scale collaborative projects that empower neighborhoods; musician and organizer Lukas Simonis, who has built vital platforms for experimental sound and performance; and filmmaker Sharine Rijsenburg, whose storytelling reclaims archives and voices too often overlooked.

The line-up further includes programmer Suze van Bohemen, a driving force in Rotterdam’s film community; writer and performer Chery Salinas, who uses spoken word as a tool for healing and inclusion; and curator Leana Boven, whose work brings diasporic memory, climate justice, and decolonial practices into the city’s cultural dialogue; and Samantha Rodrigues, founder and director of YOU Talentontwikkeling and co-founder of Força São Vicente, who supports children, youth, and vulnerable communities through programs that amplify voices and foster creative and social empowerment; and among the nominees is visual artist and radio maker Ash Kilmartin, who weaves together found materials, language, and everyday situations to explore the small gestures that shape collective experience, while building experimental platforms for sound, publishing, and community exchange in Rotterdam.

Finally, the Niteshop, a project that starts from the idea that the knowledge and skills of citizens on the fringes of society are indispensable in tackling transition issues. It is a place where established and up-and-coming designers, artists, hustlers and scientists meet and collaborate on the city of tomorrow.

Together, these ten nominees represent the spirit of the Visionary 010 Award: long-term commitment, bold imagination, and a deep belief in the power of culture to shape a more connected, just, and vibrant Rotterdam.

Kamiel Verschuren

Kamiel Verschuren is a conceptual and interdisciplinary artist with a broad international practice, working across drawing, spatial and urban design, organization, publishing, and socially engaged art. His work emphasizes self-organization, international exchange, and the shared public realm. He is co-founder and member of several initiatives, including the artist collective B.a.d, Studio Pompstraat, ICU art projects, NAC (an artist-run organization, cultural fund, and project platform), Stedelinks010, Charlois aan het Water (Pavilion at the Water), and PanoramaZuid (VeerpontZuid).

Since 1991, Verschuren has been deeply involved in the socio-cultural development of Rotterdam South, continuously exploring the role of art and the artist in urban life. Through residency programs with B.a.d, NAC, and Charlois aan het Water, he has connected the city to an international platform and vice versa. Recently, in collaboration with SKAR, he co-founded C3-studios, a new complex housing over 122 artists, project, and program spaces.

Virgil Moreno

“Dance is the joy of movement and the heart of life.”

For Virgil Moreno, dance has always been inseparable from living. His first encounter with dance came through his sister, sparking a journey that began on national and international stages from concert halls and brand campaigns to television shows and grew into a career as the creative force behind some of the Netherlands’ most prominent productions. His high-energy, pop- and fashion-inspired choreography can be seen in De Vrienden van Amstel Live, Ladies of Soul, and various Talpa shows.

Beyond the stage, Moreno is equally committed to the next generation of dancers. As a teacher at institutions such as the Albeda Danscollege in Rotterdam, he encourages young talents to find their own strength and voice, while advocating for diversity and authenticity. In his own productions, he provides opportunities for emerging makers and performers, while also striving for a more sustainable and financially healthy dance sector. For him, dance is more than movement: it is a universal language that connects people, breaks boundaries, and tells stories that go straight to the heart.

Jeanne van Heeswijk

Jeanne van Heeswijk is an artist whose work centers on social justice and community building. She is renowned for her large-scale, participatory projects in public spaces that intertwine art, activism, and education.

Her projects, such as Freehouse Radicalizing the Local, laid the foundation for initiatives like the Afrikaanderwijk Cooperative in Rotterdam, inviting communities to actively shape the future of their neighborhoods often in response to urban challenges such as gentrification and social inequality.

Through her practice, Van Heeswijk challenges existing power structures and creates new opportunities for collective action and engagement, emphasizing that art can be a tool for social transformation.Lukas Simonis

Lukas Simonis

Lukas Simonis is a musician, sound artist, curator, and organizer deeply embedded in Rotterdam’s experimental music and art scene. His roots lie in industrial music and noise rock of the 1980s, inspired by groups such as Throbbing Gristle, The Residents, Pere Ubu, and Sonic Youth.

As part of the Rotterdam Jazzbunker scene, Simonis explored free improvisation and electronic experimentation. He played in numerous bands, including Dull Schicksal, Trespassers W, Morzelpronk, AA Kismet, Liana Flu Winks, VRIL, Stepmother, Perfect Vacuum, Bazip Zeehok, and Coolhaven. Beyond performance, he has organized concerts, events, and festivals such as the Dissonanten Festival, the Dissidenten Festival, Popifilm, and Dodorama.

In 1999, Simonis co-founded WORM, a multimediacenter for experimental and alternative art that serves as a “safe space” for diverse creative communities. Through his Klangendum foundation, he has organized long-running music series such as VROOOM and, as of 2025, he is involved with WGW (Weggeefwinkel) in Rotterdam.

Sharine Rijsenburg

Sharine Rijsenburg is a Dutch-Caribbean filmmaker and researcher based in Rotterdam. Working at the intersection of film and archival research, she investigates how archives, memory, and representation (re)shape cultural identity.

Her debut short film Bubbling Baby (2024), constructed from Caribbean archives and Rotterdam street culture, won the RTM Pitch and premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025. Rijsenburg is committed to making underrepresented stories visible, transforming old, often stigmatizing images into new and hopeful narratives.

In addition to her own creative projects, she works as a creative researcher for VPRO, weaving overlooked histories into socially engaged storytelling. Through her work, she bridges communities, archives, and contemporary visual culture.

Suze van Bohemen

Suze van Bohemen is a programmer, project manager, advisor, and creative consultant based in Rotterdam. At the International Film Festival Rotterdam, she leads RTM, a program showcasing films and filmmakers from Rotterdam, as well as the RTM Pitch, an award of €25,000 that enables creators to produce a short film.

Suze is passionate about creating space for bold ideas and unconventional makers. Through her work with Talenthub Zuid-Holland and as a board member of Film Platform Rotterdam, she fosters a thriving local and regional film scene that is connected to the international arena. Her work bridges the gap between emerging talent and professional platforms, ensuring that innovative voices in film can flourish.

Chery Salinas

Chery Salinas is a writer, performer, and facilitator of creative projects that connect spoken word with well-being. Through Spraakuhloos Onbeperkt, she creates a safe and accessible environment where people with visible and invisible disabilities can explore, express, and share their stories.

Her 2025 publication, Onbeperkt: Waar de lens ons zichtbaar maakt, combines these stories with poetry inspired by anaglyph techniques, visually reflecting the layers of both disability and poetic expression. Chery’s workshops not only foster artistic expression but also demonstrate how spoken word can serve as a tool for healing, recognition, and sustainable inclusion. Her work contributes to a society where people with disabilities are empowered to be seen and heard.

Leana Boven

Leana Boven is a curator, program maker, writer, and researcher with a background in gender and postcolonial theory. Her work explores themes such as diasporic memory practices, archives, urban development, and decolonial climate justice.

She has curated projects at MAMA and Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons, and currently works at Stroom Den Haag, where she recently developed the exhibition Beloved Waters. Leana is also a curator at Gemaal op Zuid and involved in projects such as Spiritual Disobedience in collaboration with Yusser al Obaidi. Additionally, she contributes to the Design Academy Eindhoven within the Social Design department.

Leana advises the Mondriaan Fonds and the City of Rotterdam and serves on the board of No Limits! Art Castle, connecting artistic practice with policy, research, and community engagement.

Samantha Rodrigues

Samantha Rodrigues is the founder and director of YOU Talentontwikkeling, which has been supporting children and young people in developing their talents since 2009. With a strong focus on equal opportunities, she creates programs that give young people a platform to make their voices heard, including through the Children’s Neighborhood Council. As co-founder of Força São Vicente, she also works internationally to support vulnerable communities in Cape Verde. Samantha is driven by the belief that every child has talent and deserves the chance to discover it. Her vision is a society in which creativity, self-confidence, and community strength form the foundation for future leadership.

Malique Mohamud

Malique Mohamud is a designer, strategist, and Hip Hop futurist. He is the founder of Concrete Blossom, a Rotterdam-based design studio rooted in the Culture and other forms of contemporary urban culture. Malique is also known as the co-founder of The Niteshop, a research and design center for the city of tomorrow. From this foundation, Malique and his team develop prototypes, strategies, and knowledge for future-proof cities. His ambition is to reposition Rotterdam as the capital of the Culture and highlight its role as a cradle of society.

Ash Kilmartin

Ash Kilmartin is a visual artist from Aotearoa New Zealand, based in Rotterdam since 2015. She works with the found - materials, language, situations - to document the small moments of private and collective experience that shape the way we think our own lives. She likes to play with the gaps. After completing the MFA programme at Piet Zwart Institute, she worked for Wilfried Lentz, and from 2020-2022 she ran the exhibition space known as A Shop Called LIFE. Since 2021 she has been part of the team behind Radio WORM, where she is now lead programmer, coordinating daily broadcasts, regular live events and special external projects. She has her own radio residencies on Operator Radio and Radio Tempo Não Pára. She is part of the editorial collective Short Pieces That Move!, a Rotterdam-based publishing project with an emphasis on collective learning and experimentation with or against English as a material.